FINAL ROUND — Regality/binary knight
As long as the Earth endures their Life
To deal with them having full and free Permission;
Human's Hour on Earth is
Weakness, Error, Strife.
Combatants remaining: 2
I do not pretend to aught worth knowing,
I do not pretend I could be a Teacher
To help or convert a fellow-creature.
Remaining Days: 6
I wake up, feeling somewhat strange. I remember having some sort of dream last night, but the details escape me. It was not a good dream, and it did not feel as much like a dream. It reminded me of how it felt when I saw Saber's memory of her death. Does that mean…
Yes, I am almost sure that we have shared some sort of memory last night. Just, it was not enough for me to recall anything. I nestle my face to Saber's nape and kiss it softly, wrapping my arms around her from behind. She may not ever admit to feeling lonely, but she does not need to. I know she probably has no one but me, no one to know her whole story and not blame her. And I will stick to her, just like she sticks to the amnesiac I am.
"Mmngh," she grumbles sleepily into her pillow. It appears to be too early for her, and I should not be surprised. Staying like this, I feel like I could sleep for a couple of hours more myself.
"Don't you need to check the bulletin board, lovebirds ?" Ah… There is the reason that keeps me from oversleeping, it seems, standing there, leaning against the doorframe: Rin Tohsaka. The girl I consider my best friend, though things are rather rough right now.
"Yes," I admit, getting up to get ready for the day. I do not feel like arguing with Rin; after all, I know she is right. We cannot be slacking off too much, this war is not done yet. Though I am sure it is for a good part the jealousy talking from her. And even I myself could not shake off the minor jealousy I feel because she kissed my Saber.
Thus, I wake up Saber as I did usually, even with Rin watching—I kiss her. But this morning, I let my lips linger on hers much longer than I would need to wake her up and despite not really being fully awake, Saber returns the kiss. Probably some sort of reflex, some natural reaction by now. Then, I can hear Rin's door close hard. That sound is somewhat satisfying, but it also brought Saber to her senses.
"What the…?" She looks like she is about to rip off Rin's head for making so much noise early in the morning—not that it is that early. "What's her problem?" Her grumbly, pouty voice is just adorable, especially in combination with her hair being even more messy after waking up.
"That I kissed you in front of her, after she told me we should not dawdle too much," I inform Saber truthfully, smiling to myself. But even Saber cannot help but grin. Of course, she would never disapprove of making clear to Rin who is dating who. I do feel slightly bad in hindsight, for making Rin uncomfortable… and possibly hurt with this. I wrap my arms around Saber, who is sitting on our bed now.
I just cannot keep worrying about how Rin feels about my relationship forever, can I? Besides, we did nothing indecent in front of her eyes. And Rin probably should get used to this, since I doubt we will break up, ever.
After just a few moments, Saber gets up, materialising her red, light armour—ready to go out, just like me. "Let's check who's left?" asks Saber, and her words are fitting for the situation.
There can only be one Master left besides me, and only one other Servant. And sadly, I have a guess on who it might be.
Checking the bulletin board only reveals my guess to be spot on—the name next to mine is not exactly unfamiliar.
Leonardo Bistario Harway.
We know him, and we know his Servant. Gawain, Saber class—a knight of the round table. A former colleague of Saber, so to say. But, with her being the "Knight of Treachery", I doubt he would have a good opinion of her, or the other way around.
"Are you okay?" I ask her, and I notice she is slightly biting her bottom lip, possibly feeling stressed. "About facing Gawain, I mean." Saber shrugs.
"I'll have to bust that pretty boy's teeth in, that's all." She makes it sound so easy, but I doubt it is.
"How was he? I mean, back in your time." This is not exactly changing the topic, but… possibly a bit less irritating to talk about for Saber?
"A loyal dog to the king, baring its fangs to anyone against her. Much like me at the beginning," she says. And from what I have seen of Gawain, this suits him. Being the chivalrous knight you would imagine in fairy tales to save the princess—the knight in shining armour, so to say. And yet, I prefer my own Saber over him. Her smile shines more than any armour ever could, no matter how perfect.
"You still are loyal, are you not?" I ask Saber, talking about us, of course, this time actually changing the topic. I do hope she gets the hint.
"W-when the person's worthy, sure," she stutters, facing away. Good, she caught on, I think.
"Am I?" This is more a tease than an actual question. I am sure I already know the answer.
"P-Possibly. Now shut up," Saber says, her face almost as red as a tomato. "What now? Arena?" I thought about this possibility for a while. As self-assured as Leo seemed when I met him, he also is not the kind of person to slack and lose due to underestimating his opponent—this is likely how he made it this far.
… Along with Julius also taking care of Masters for a bit over half the time, I remember bitterly. Who knows if this War would have had even more Rounds to it, with possibly even more skilled Masters if not for Julius possibly weeding out Masters from before this started?
"I would rather go to the chapel, to thank Aoko and Touko for their support. In the Arena…"
"We'd meet pretty boy and wannabe king," Saber finishes my sentence, though with nicknames I would not have used. Not that I would deem them completely inaccurate, but still.
"Exactly."
"Sure, then. Your call, Master," Saber says, winking and grinning at me. This will be our last week together, regardless of how the battle will turn out. So we sort of have to make the best of it. And thus, I take Saber's hand to walk to the chapel with her—passing nobody but a minor number of NPCs. Not surprising, since only Leo, myself and Rin are left, along with Gawain and Saber.
"Oh—you made it to the end! Gonna win this bet," Aoko smiles to herself upon seeing us. Touko seems somewhat relieved of us still being around as well, though she does not really show it.
"Are you here for a last Alteration of the Soul? Though, there's not much more we could do," she says.
"Not exactly," I tell them. "Actually, we wanted to tell our goodbyes already. I mean, either way, we will not return."
"True," says Aoko, "But why even go this far to tell us goodbye?" That… is indeed a good question. It would just feel rude to me to leave without bidding someone farewell. Especially if they did so much for me, no matter if it is just their obligation.
"I know it is weird to care enough about NPCs, but—"
"Wait… you thought we were NPCs?" Aoko's eyes widen in slight shock, but soon after she starts laughing. "That's hilarious!"
"Y-You're not?" asks even Saber. And it makes me feel at least a bit better, since I was not the only one who thought they were NPCs.
"Yes and no," answers Touko, as her sister is still in the middle of a laughing fit. "We are—or were— actual humans at some point. A bit before the current time period. Somehow the Moon Cell ended up picking us for this duty, so here we are. Our human bodies, however, should be decayed at this point." That is a harsh but detailed enough explanation.
"I am… so sorry for being rude," I say, feeling really bad.
"No worries," says Aoko, patting my shoulder. "My bet's still on the two of you. Make sure your wish is worth it!"
"But I am…"
"In cold sleep and shouldn't be here? We know," says Touko nonchalantly. "But the Moon Cell and the SERAPH allowed you here for so long. There must be a reason for this."
This feels somewhat reassuring. And with that, Saber and I bid our farewells to the two sisters.
Hopefully we will not disappoint them.